My big oak tree's leaves have all died?

Question

I have a big oak tree that suddenly the leaves all turned brown except for one branch that is about 3 feet long. I live in a new construction area and my home is less than 2 years old. It was green all last year but this year the leaves came out green but turned brown about a month later.

If anyone has any REAL advice or a web site I could use to find out about the tree I would appriciate it.

Please no answers like "water it" or "sounds dead to me". Only real answers.

Answer 1

We had a huge burr oak tree that the same thing happened to. It was shorty after construction of our home. We called an arborest and after his evaluation, he determined that too much dirt was moved up around the trunk of the tree. We had tons of dirt work done, and about 3 foot of top soil was layered around the base of the tree. At the time I didn't think it was a big deal considering the tree was at least 100 foot tall. If the roots where disturbed too much during construction of your home, that could be another problem. We ended up loosing the tree. It was a terrible loss for our landscaping.

Was the tree planted after construction? If so, there could be something buried in the ground beneath the root ball. Many contractors are known to bury concrete, steel and excess drywall & lumber scraps in order to avoid the dump. They bury it deep enough to not to effect the grass, but it can still be harmful to trees and shrubs

Answer 2

First Thing: STOP WATERING THE TREE

Remember, that this tree was OK before your house was built, and was healthy without any water. Do you have a lawn around it? If so this is the problem. I think you have over water the poor tree. It may be too late to save it; it may be one of a variety of diseases in the roots. (fungus, root rout, parasites, you need to get a book on oak tree diseases or hire an arborist0.

If the tree dies, I don’t thing you can grow another oak tree there.

Answer 3

Chances are the tree has a disease. Check out your local municipality's website for any warnings on diseases that may be in the area. There are often bugs too that could have taken over the tree's system causing it to die. It might be too late to do anything. But find out if there are any diseases in the area. Ask your neighbours and look around to notice if any other trees have died.

Answer 4

My trees did the same thing, the roots ended up becoming diseased and it spread from one tree to another, I also noticed that before my first tree died, it had what is called "suckers" all over it, Suckers look like tiny trees growing all over a bigger tree and they basically use the trees energy to grow and they can kill the tree as well, chances are good it was something that happened in the root system.

Answer 5

sounds like its winter. wait 3 months, and the leaves will come back lol

Answer 6

my hard maple did the same thing this year, have been told it's just seen it's better days. my neighbors grandfather told me it was probably about 100 years old

Answer 7

I'm sorry but it does sound like it is dead.Could it have been struck by lightening? I lost one like that once.

Answer 8

there can be many reasons here are a few websites hope these help.

Answer 9

Do you have termites in your yard?

Answer 10

did it get struck my lightning?